Classroom Managment

Overall I think that my field teacher has handled her classroom management, organization and behavioral plans very well. The whole school uses a behavioral plan in which anytime the teacher says “F-A-L” the students respond “C-O-N”  (their mascot, it took me a while to figure out honestly) and that is a signal to them to stop, look, and listen. These instructions are posted on the wall, but I have not seen the teacher reinforce this expectation in her class. I think it is a good idea to remind students of these types of classroom expectations regularly. It has been shown that often times when students are not responding well to a behavioral plan like this it is because they are not sure of how they should behave.

My field teacher uses this strategy frequently. Sometime the kids respond to it very well. Other times it takes another try or two. My host teacher is also pretty laid back about the one or two kids who are still whispering or tapping their foot. I have worked with other teachers who were stricter about these little disturbances. I think that this is a case where it is important to pick your battles. I have seen cases where little things like this resulted in tons of wasted class time and escalated to the teacher literally screaming at the students. Sometimes if a student is continuing to talk when she is giving instructions she will just walk over and place her hand on the student’s shoulder. This usually works much more effectively than screaming.

The school also uses a buddy room system. If a student is having a really hard time in their classroom they have a buddy room next door. The teacher can send the student over to spend some time in the buddy classroom for a little while to cool down or refocus. Each room also has a safe seat. If a student is having a hard time getting a child to focus on their work they can move them to the safe seat. On the first day that I went to field there was a little girl that was sitting in the safe seat. She seemed to be doing great by the time I got there. She was friendly to me and showed me her work. Later my host teacher mentioned to me what had caused her to go to the “safe seat.” While they were in her regular classroom became angry when her teacher told them tat it was time for art. She didn’t want to go to art. The teacher brought them all over to the art room and explained the situation to Mrs. Robb. Mrs. Robb chose to allow the girl to pace around the room rather than fighting her to get her to sit down on the carpet with the other students. It distracted the other students for a few minutes, but they stopped worrying about it pretty quickly. When the students began working, Mrs. Robb set the girl’s materials at the safe seat and told her that when she was ready she could begin her work over there. After a few minutes she did just that and worked very happily for the rest of the class period. Obviously this seems to have been a very effective and successful resolution to what could have been a bad situation.

In addition to having good behavioral management skills my host teacher has laid out an effective classroom management plan. The tables each seat six students and are color-coded. The seats are numbered. Each seat gets a particular job for the day. One student might be in charge of getting out supplies, another picking up the students’ work, another cleaning off the table etc. The students respond very well to these assigned duties.

Fortunately, Mrs. Robb seems to have set up a wonderful classroom system that has not really lead to any situations that I think should have been handled differently. It seems to run very smoothly. Part of me wishes that I had seen more difficult situations as examples. However, I think that this has taught me that prevention is the best classroom and behavioral management method.  
I think that setting up and repeatedly communicating clear expectations and developing a genuine atmosphere of sharing and respect are good ways to prevent classroom conflicts. In my classroom I would remind students of my expectations throughout the year when it seems necessary and casually on a regular basis for example I might say, "Don't forget that our critiques are meant to help our classmates understand how others are viewing their work and how they can improve their art. We all need to be respectful when others share their work with us." Furthermore, it always seems to work best to praise students when they are following classroom guidelines and behaving respectfully. Then they won't need to be corrected as often. I look forward to learning more about classroom management through my field observations and this week in class. 

Assessment Reflection

How will you know what your students have learned? What does successful learning look like? What kinds of evidence and feedback do you and your students need and how can you get it? What different assessment strategies will you utilize in your unit plan? 

It is important to keep in mind that successful learning does not necessarily always equal a better product right away. Even though students might be learning and growing as artist it may not be reflected in their artwork right away. Eventually successful learning should result in improvements in work, however successful learning might also result in increases in risk and experimentation first. 

Based on my reading of Chapter 1 from Assessment in Art Education I think that a combination of standards based and criterion based assessments used throughout the school year would be an appropriate way to grade studnets. This would allow for students at different places in their learning to have success. However, after reading chapter 5 on formative assessment I have decided that this is likely the most useful assessment tool for a teachers and students alike. 

In chapter 5 Beattie says, "If indeed feedback is 'the thing that makes it most likely that students will improve later performance effectively and efficiently,' then feedback should occur not after assessment, but as students preform." I think this statement makes a great point. Students should be given a chance to evaluate and improve their work before being given a final grade on their artwork. In my opinion these skills of self evaluation and incorporation of criticism in order to create a stronger product are more important skills for students to master than creating artwork in a bubble. For all students and maybe more especially those in a period of growth and experimentation examples from other artists and discussions about their own artwork can help them to self-assess and modify their work. I think journals and in progress critiques are valuable forms of formative assessment which enable teachers to get a look at students metacognitive skills. The "chain notes" activity in chapter 5 suggest several good questions to ask students such as, "What do you think about your working process at the moment?, Have you evaluated something about your artwork in the last fifteen minutes?, What is an example of your self evaluation process?" Asking students to detail their planning and write artist statements before and after finishing artwork are also useful forms of formative assessment which help teachers to understand how students are solving art-making problems. Chapter 5 also offers many other interesting ways to conduct formative assessments that I would like to utilize in my lessons. I think these are good strategies to make  your students thinking and art making processes more transparent which is the best way to get a clearer pictures of their growth and learning. 

In my unit plan I would like to incorporate an paraphrasing activity simliar to the one that Kathy showed in her impressionism unit. This helps to clarify things for students who might be confused and allows students to construct meaning together. I would also like to incorporate journal activities and group discussions into my lesson plan which will check for the students understanding. So far I have planned to include a VTesque discussion, a timeline, and a visual and written journal response to a researched piece of art. I am looking forward to learning more about other forms of assessment that I can incorporate into my unit plan. 

Big Idea Book Pages 7 and 8 and Advocacy Presentation

Big Idea Pages 7 & 8

Once again I made only one page because I included the written part on the same page as my drawing. I took on drawing in an attempt to stretch myself and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. This is the page that I made in response to Chutting's page for my book. I liked how she tied history into architecture. She also referenced the lasting nature of history and traditions. Obviously history is history because it stands the test of time. However, some parts of history grow increasingly fuzzy with time or can disappear if it is not the story that some people want to be remembered. I think it is very interesting how my big idea ties into Chutting's big idea of memory.

Outside of book with holes cut through the pages to show the layers.

Big Idea Book Artist Statement

 My big idea book began with exploring the idea of history. I love learning about history and I thought that exploring how history can be expressed through art would be interesting. As I thought about this idea more I examined how someone’s personal history can intertwine with society’s history. The first and second page of my book reflects this. On these pages I have interwoven a photo of my family on the Native American Indian reservation that I was born on with a map of the southwest region of the U.S., where this tribe was relocated during the Trail of Tears.

In the second and third pages I researched the work of another artist working in the same big idea. I loved looking at the work of Glen Ligon. His ideas of major social change and how it is reflected in history were very impactful in my book making. His work also lead me to look deeper into whose version of history gets told and why. I used bright watercolors, screen-printing, and marker to create this page. The third and fourth pages of my book echo the work of Ligon by using a juxtaposition of color and content, referencing literature, and using the words of Howard Zinn to express the importance of social change in history.

Chutting was the guest artist for my fifth and sixth pages. I love the piece that she made for my book. She used a photo and paint to depict and old street in China. She was referencing how historical areas in China remain the same in many ways even if it changes on the surface.

I explored the idea of permanence in history further in the final page of my big idea book. I used a spider web to express how some parts of history do get erased and forgotten, especially if someone in power wants it to be forgotten or remembered differently.

Each of my pieces has a small hole cut in it so that you can see through the layers of these explorations of history. History and art both carry many layers that work together to make a very complex whole. By being able to see some part of all of the pages at once you get a sense that how complex history is and how we are often only allowed to see one small piece of the puzzle in each story. Furthermore, when you look from the inside of the book out, the hole serves as a viewfinder, which symbolizes how parts of life are intentionally framed into history.

Art Advocacy Presentation

I think that one of the best ways for parents to truly understand what takes place in their child’s art education classroom is to experience it first hand. Many parents have deep-set preconceived ideas about art education. I feel that a first hand art making experience with their child is a great way to positively influence their ideas about art education.

Parent Night Art Advocacy Mini Lesson:

Big Idea: Home/Community

Objective:

·      Advocate to parents about why the arts are important to their kid’s education

·      Show parents their child’s artistic potential

·      Give parents a hands on example of how art teaches kids important skills

·      Allow parents to participate in a school based learning activity with their kids

Art viewing and discussion:

View and discuss artist examples.

Doh Ho Suh, House with in a House

Doh Ho Suh, House with in a House

Ham Myung soo, Cityscape

Thomas Hart Benton, View from my Mother's House

Discuss these questions with your table (3 or 4 parents/child groups per table).

·      What do you (both parent and student) think about first when you think about your block or street?

·      What are some of your favorite things in your neighborhood?

·      Is your home in the city or country?

·      Do you know any of your neighbors?

·      Do you ever do anything with your neighbors?

·      Do a lot of people live in your house or apartment or just a few?

·      Have you ever lived in a different house? State? Country?

·      What colors would you associate with your neighborhood?

·      What is the difference between the word house and home?

 Art making activity:

 Use construction paper, colored pencils, and markers to create a picture of your street or neighborhood including your house and all of the things that are most important to you in your neighborhood.  Write a short poem or description to accompany your neighborhood drawing. Share your drawings and writing with the rest of your table.

 Post art making discussion:

·      What were the differences between what is important to you and what is important to your parent in your neighborhood?

·      How did you show your favorite parts of your neighborhood?

On smart board display what we learned in this lesson:

-     -  Different perspectives

-      - Moods of colors

-       -Relationship building

-       -Community

-       -Comparing and contrasting

-       -Understanding artist choices

-       -Reading and writing

-       -Cultural differences